Nadolny 2

Hayley Nadolny

ERWC

Ms. Marcum

October 31, 2016

Street Policing in Our Community

Throughout the years the citizens of the United States have seen a more prominent police presence

whether it is in news articles or with their own eyes. With policing in this current era people now take videos

anytime a police officer is around them, some of these videos have been leaked and we have seen or heard of

the tragic deaths of Eric Gardner, Michael Brown, and Freddie Gray and many more. With these deaths of these

men we have seen riots, hatred, and disappointment throughout the country. Even though the policemen do get

support, or used to, they get spat on, disrespected and hated for choosing this line of work. With the following

of these deaths we now see with help from the news and media that most if not all things police do are racially

motivated, which in some dilemmas this may be true, but we also see policemen doing their job of serving and

protecting their communities. Throughout the time we have had police officers some of their actions have been

lead to believe they are racially motivated and ill willed, but what the citizens do not understand is how the

news and the community affect their reputations, work environment, and their look on life.

Since the community has a major impact on what and how the police are perceived, they now have to be

careful with what they do or say because it may be received as racially motivated. Police officers serve within

their communities safe and a good place to be. As time goes on the communities are perceiving as if they do not

need police or their help which Bill Bratton, New York's Police Commissioner says it best Public safety

without public approval is not public safety (paragraph 3) which shows that there needs to be a mutual trust

between the police and with the community and society. In this article Bill Bratton is stating how police

aggression is not getting the results as they were / are expecting and with experiments they are noticing how

less aggressive approaches are getting more results (paragraph 3). I do agree with what Bill Bratton is

expressing is correct that the public needs to trust and support the police and what they are going, even if they
 Nadolny 2

arent fully in support with the same idea or ways they are expressing. The citizens of any community need to

support the police in order to get the correct result that the public desires. Experts, like Bob Herbert disagree on

how the police officers are executing stop and frisk. According to Herbert Cops will stop, frisk and

sometimes taunt people who are at their mercy - without finding anything, making the arrest, or recording the

encounter.. (paragraph 8), this gives the reader that police officers are being frightening and degrading towards

their cities and citizens. Although some argue that the police officer are just doing their job that is provided,

others argue that the police officers are being racially motivated towards people to stop and frisk them In my

view I do believe that the police officers are doing their job to the strongest of their abilities, but often the news

and other social media outlets pursue the viewers to believe the substance of a story that is not being fully told.

With everyday stress that police officers endure major influences that affect their work environments,

most express they feel like they are always being watched. In the article What the Cops Say written by D.K.

expresses and provides multiple perspectives from different forces and police officers to provide evidence of

how the bad press affects their work environments. Through the article the reader gets a view from a

lieutenant from a midwestern force says It sometimes feels like the only voice you ever hear is criticising

you If you watch the TV news, our good work only gets two seconds. When we do something bad, it gets two

minutes.(paragraph 6). Despite the fact that the police officers put themselves in situations in which that put

their lives in danger everyday, every awful circumstance the department(s) are making the police hesitate every

step and move that they make throughout their days. In the groundbreaking article, Bob Herbert states that

Police officers who feel no obligation to treat them fairly or with any respect at all is an abomination. That

many of the officers engaged in the mistreatment are black or Latino themselves is shameful (paragraph 1)

which shows how he believes that police officers feel no guilt or remorse on how they treat or get treated by

their community. Although police officers do indeed feel the actions that they portray onto the community, it

doesn't mean all of the stops or arrest they have made are all racially motivated.

Although there are multiple perspectives are perceived about police officers, what the community and

citizens do not recognize is that the effects of their job is putting a toll on how they perceive their communities,
 Nadolny 2

their line of work and their look on life. Although researchers disagree with street policing, and that is it racially

motivated but police officers are following and doing their jobs and protecting their city.
 Nadolny 2

Works Cited

Fairburn, Richard. "Street-Level Drug Law Enforcement." Practice: Street Level Drug Law

Enforcement. N.p., 5 Nov. 2015. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.

K, D. "What the Cops Say." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 27 Aug. 2015. Web. 27 Oct.

2016.

"Don't Shoot." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 13 Dec. 2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.